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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Indie Spotlight: Michele Gorman

It's no secret that traditionally published authors sometimes take the plunge into self-publishing. For some, it's because they want to package and promote the book in a way that stays truer to their vision of the book. For others, it boils down to controlling the price of the book, the manner in which it will be sold, and reaping the benefits of every individual sale.

For Michele Gorman, the choice to self publish her novel Single in the City, which was originally published across the pond by Penguin UK, was a mixture of many things. I was extremely curious to hear all about it, since it seemed that the UK version of the book had done so well....

Here's her story:

Thanks so much Lori, for inviting me today
to chat about self-publishing! It’s a completely different proposition than it
was even 5 years ago, thanks to the rise of eBooks. And this is great news for
both writers and book lovers.

Today there are lots of reasons for
published writers to choose self-publishing. Maybe you’ve been with a big
publisher and had a bad experience. Maybe you had a good experience but want
complete control over the whole publication process. Or maybe you just have
more faith in your book, and your audience, than big publishers do.

I was elated when Penguin UK offered to
publish Single in the City. And I had a great experience with them. My editor
was excellent, the sales team worked really hard and got my book into one of
the UK’s
biggest supermarkets and into every airport and train station book shop in the
country. And my publicist was incredible. I definitely believe in the
partnership between writers and great publishers but sometimes self-publishing is
the right decision for a specific book in a specific market.

Penguin UK offered a global deal but my
agent and I held back the US rights. This was because I wanted a US publisher
for the book (Penguin UK and Penguin US are run independently each from their
own territories). I wanted a US publisher to handle Single in the City on ‘home
soil’ because Hannah, the main character, is American and her story about
moving to London is seen through her rather baffled American eyes. I figured it
would be a great fit.

Unfortunately the publishers we approached
didn’t think that US chick lit fans would ‘get’ the culture-specific humour of
a book set in London because many hadn’t been there. I reject this judgment. I
have more faith in American women.

We don’t need to have experienced something
in order to understand it. I doubt many women who’ve bought We Need To Talk
About Kevin have a homicidal son, and no one who reads Jane Eyre today has
lived in the 18th Century. These books are read because women
empathise with their characters’ feelings. Single in the City is about
establishing a new life in an unfamiliar situation. Who hasn’t had the same
cringeworthy feelings when moving to a new city, or country, starting college
or a new job or trying to fit into a boyfriend’s family? And who doesn’t laugh
when they hear about others who’ve been in the same boat? This is a universal
theme, so I decided to publish the book myself.

It was a lot of work to get Single in the
City ready for its American launch. I had to ‘translate’ it into American from
British English, and while I was at it I figured I’d rewrite it too. I’m very
lucky to have had a year of reviews from so many readers, which allowed me to
see what they liked and didn’t like. For example several readers would have preferred
less drinking … since that wasn’t an important feature of the story I toned it
down (though we do like a tipple over here!). Hannah is also a bit more of a
rounded character now, and I’ve deepened the scene settings to give a stronger
sense of place – it’s a bit more descriptive. I also took out the footnotes
that explained American/British differences (they were aimed at British readers
to explain some of our more peculiar habits). Finally, and most fun, I got to
design the new cover!

So it’s been a very busy few months, but
rewarding, and I’m excited that Single in the City can now be read by an
American audience. And I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks, so please
don’t be shy. Get in touch! You can send me an email through my website (www.michelegorman.co.uk) or send me
a facebook friend request (www.facebook.com/michele.gorman3)
or follow me on Twitter (@expatdiaries) and I’ll follow you back. I love
talking with readers, so much so that I’ve hatched a plan for the next book. I’m
going to write it interactively! I’m posting book excerpts on my blog (michelegormanwriter.blogspot.com) and asking readers for their opinions on
storylines and characters. This is SO exciting for me so I hope many many
readers will want to take part!

Finally, another exciting development for
eBooks is Kindlegraph. Do you know about this? It’s genius - I’m able to
inscribe eBooks for you! If you go to www.kindlegraph.com,
sign in, find Single in the City and request a kindlegraph. My signed
inscription for your eBook gets sent straight to your Kindle.

And if you’d like to give Single in the
City as an eBook to your friends for Christmas or Hanukkah, you can gift one
through www.amazon.com. I’m more than
happy to inscribe their book too. Just be sure to tell your friend in the email
that goes with the gift to go to Kindlegraph and make the request. You may even
want to add your inscription to that email and ask your friend to copy that and
paste it into the request (Kindlegraph lets you do that). Imagine being able to
give your friend an eBook inscribed to say Happy
Christmas Nicole, Your best friend Amy has sent you this book because you’re
fabulous. We both hope you love it! All the best in 2012. Michele Gorman xoxo

Michele Gorman was born and raised
in the US but has lived in London
since 1998, and in 2006 she became a card-carrying Brit. Now she knows the words
to God Save The Queen but still chokes up at hearing the Star-Spangled Banner.
She studied accounting at university but never got the hang of debits and
credits, to the dismay of several managers. Fortunately she realized early on
that while her fondness for storytelling didn't foster confidence in her
colleagues, it did prepare her for a life writing fiction. She is the
best-selling author of Single in the City, her debut novel published by Penguin
in the UK and abroad. In October 2011 she
self-published the book in the US. She's blogging
about the ups (and downs!) of this experience on www.michelegormanwriter.blogspot.com.

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Who's That Girl?

I have been buried beneath small press and self-published review copies since 2009. My passion for supporting the small press and self publishing communities has driven me out into the world wide web to demonstrate alternative ways to spread the word about amazing publishers, authors, and novels you might never had heard of. Feeding your reading addiction, one book at a time.